“I thought we had left behind the dark days of World War II,” Chiu told a crowd outside the City Hall before the formal introduction to the Supervisors, alluding to the mass incarceration of Japanese-Americans by President Roosevelt 71 years ago. Indeed, history is repeating itself for three families with victims of that disgraceful era and the resolution includes a clause reminding people of that fact:

WHEREAS, The families of Fred Korematsu, Minoru Yasui, and Gordon Hirabayashi, Japanese Americans incarcerated in World War II, filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Hedges v. Obama, a lawsuit that challenges the constitutionality of the NDAA’s detentions provisions, citing that, under the pretense of national security, the NDAA essentially repeats the decisions in the discredited World War IIlegal cases of Korematsu, Yasui, and Hirabaryashi, and allows the government to imprison people without any due process rights for an indefinite time

San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors is expected to vote in favor since five out of its 11 members are already co-sponsors. Nadia Kayyali, legal fellow with the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, says, “If this resolution is to pass, San Francisco will be part of a national movement, as the 18th city to pass a resolution opposing the NDAA.” Kayyali is looking forward to the day a Liberty Preservation Act-type bill is introduced in Sacramento.

If passed, copies of the San Francisco resolution would be sent to the City and County as well as federal officials such as California’s Senators Diane Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, the US Attorney General, President Obama and others. No state officials were listed to receive the language, but Sacramento should be getting the message. Last year the cities Fairfax, Berkeley, and Santa Cruz all passed similar resolutions.

If you live in California, join the Nullify NDAA California group on Facebook here.

LEGISLATION AND TRACKING

If you live anywhere outside of the area, please contact your own local or state legislators regarding anti-NDAA legislation. If none has been introduced in your state, you can email them The Liberty Preservation Act model legislation.

Track the status of NDAA nullification in states around the country HERE